1 Game Profile

1.1 Estimated Outcomes on BGG

This table displays the selected game’s current values on four BGG outcomes (UsersRated, Average, GeekRating, Weight) along with my predictive model(s) estimated values for where these games are likely to end up.

Published	ID	Name	Type	UserRatings	Average	GeekRating	Weight
2021	247417	Solomon Kane	Current	571	8.15	5.96	3.05
			Estimated	300	7.97	5.85	3.02

To see more information about the game on boardgamegeek, click on the game’s ID or Name to go straight to the game’s profile page.

1.2 Game Description

Description
Based upon the stories by Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan), Solomon Kane is a narrative adventure board game featuring exceptional 35mm miniatures. It is a highly innovative co-operative game of storytelling, resource management, and tactical miniatures play. Players take the part of the invisible powers of good and light who aid Solomon Kane in his quest to overcome the forces of Darkness. Each player is one of the four Cardinal Virtues: Courage, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice, each with special powers that reflect their unique role. Drawing upon Howard’s famous tales of the Puritan avenger, the core box allows players to tell their own versions of the Rattle of Bones, Skulls in the Stars, and Blue Flame of Vengeance. Expansions recreate Howard’s other Solomon Kane stories, as well as adding original adventures for the hero, created especially for the game. In Solomon Kane, each of Howard’s tales is told as one or more Acts, with each Act comprising a full game session. Shorter stories like Rattle of Bones can be completed in a single session, whilst longer tales will take multiple sessions to play through. An Act is broken down into 8-10 Chapters, and each Chapter has multiple possible outcomes depending upon the actions of the players. Some Chapters offer story choices, whereas others see the action play out on the game board as the players work together to aid Solomon Kane in his quest. Using custom card decks and dice, each Virtue can control Solomon Kane or his allies, moving them around the board, fighting enemies, exploring locations, and interrogating suspects for information. If the odds get too stacked against Solomon Kane, the Virtues can even manifest directly to intervene on the board. Opposing Solomon Kane and the players is the Darkness. This twisted reflection of the Virtues is controlled by an AI deck which determines the actions of enemy miniatures, thwarts the player’s best plans, and competes with them to drive the story in an evil and unholy direction. The world of Solomon Kane is brought to life through the stunning artistic vision of Guillem H. Pongiluppi and game designer Jake Thornton, whose ‘puppet master’ game mechanics break new ground in co-operative gameplay. With multiple versions of every single Chapter, Solomon Kane is able to combine immersive storytelling with abundant replayability for a truly unique gameplay experience. Who is Solomon Kane? Solomon Kane is a dour English Puritan and redresser of wrongs. He roams the world, fighting against the ungodly and evil works of men and foul magic alike. He follows no master save his conscience, though that alone drives him to the ends of the Earth to fulfil his quest. All his life he has travelled, aiding the weak and fighting oppression. From the bleak moors of England, through the damp forests of Germany, to the sweltering jungles and savannahs of Africa – even to the shores of the distant New World of America. He neither knows nor questions why is driven to do this. It simply must be done. To Solomon Kane he is the fulfiller of God’s judgment; a vessel of wrath to be emptied onto the souls of the unrighteous. To his enemies he is an implacable fury, armed with flintlock and rapier, and armoured in unshakeable faith. The knowledge of the rightness of his cause makes him unstoppable, and gives him the ability to overcome any fiend or demon.

1.3 Game Information

Information on the game’s designers, artists, families, mechanics and categories from BGG.

For the full profile of the selected game, click on the links in the table or go to https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/247417

1.4 Explaining Predictions

For each of the predictions above, I used models that were trained on historical boardgamegeek data in order to predict the selected game. How did the model(s) arrive at their predictions? The following plot displays Shapley values to indicate what features were most influential for the model’s predictions. Anything in blue increased the model’s predictions, anything in red decreased the model’s predictions.

2 Finding Similar Games

What games are similar to Solomon Kane? I compare the selected game to every other game on boardgamegeek based on its mechanics, playing time, complexity, and game type. The tables below display the games which had the most similar data to Solomon Kane. The reported similarity is the cosine similarity between the selected game and all other games published before 2021.

This similarity score ranges from -1 to 1, where similarity of 1 indicates that games are exactly identical (a game will have a score of 1 with itself).

Note: This analysis does not look at a game’s ratings on BGG, publisher, artist, or designer - it focuses on finding similar games based on how they play, not how they are rated or by their theme.

2.1 Most Similar Games

The table below displays games with the most similar data to Solomon Kane. Click on a game’s ID or Name to go straight to its profile on boardgamegeek.

Rank	Published	ID	Name	Similarity	GeekRating	Average	Weight	UserRatings
--	2021	247417	Solomon Kane	1.00	5.96	8.15	3.02	571
1	2019	240271	Core Space	0.89	6.20	8.78	2.96	820
2	2017	232918	Fallout	0.88	6.50	6.94	2.99	6,374
3	2012	124708	Mice and Mystics	0.86	7.04	7.27	2.72	17,977
4	2020	307191	Four against the Great Old Ones	0.85	5.55	8.00	3.00	44
5	2016	205059	Mansions of Madness: Second Edition	0.85	7.77	8.01	2.67	29,837
6	2016	205637	Arkham Horror: The Card Game	0.85	7.93	8.16	3.49	34,915
7	2019	281946	Aftermath	0.85	6.36	7.77	2.88	1,244
8	2019	230424	Crisis at Steamfall	0.84	5.58	6.44	3.86	169
9	2018	264198	Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress	0.84	6.34	7.92	2.90	1,187
10	2017	188920	This War of Mine: The Board Game	0.83	7.36	7.80	3.30	10,397
11	2019	264220	Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon	0.83	7.59	8.22	3.30	8,851
12	2016	197572	Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower	0.82	6.16	7.46	2.35	1,174
13	2019	198985	Day Night Z	0.82	5.67	7.55	3.68	265
14	2016	197101	Of Dreams & Shadows	0.82	5.68	7.37	2.73	276
15	2015	55690	Kingdom Death: Monster	0.82	7.72	8.58	4.26	8,359
16	2012	111105	Agents of SMERSH	0.82	6.21	6.97	2.49	1,636
17	1980	3248	Citadel of Blood	0.82	5.61	6.53	2.39	257
18	2018	205477	Vengeance	0.82	5.89	7.14	2.80	668
19	2018	207243	The City of Kings	0.81	6.64	7.65	3.18	2,295
20	2020	262939	Far Away	0.81	5.64	7.65	2.91	147
21	2017	217012	Alchemical Crystal Quest (Second Edition)	0.81	5.54	6.61	3.33	116
22	2020	280794	Etherfields	0.81	6.63	8.04	3.45	1,960
23	2017	98527	Gloom of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game	0.81	6.42	7.59	3.10	1,698
24	2019	169427	Middara: Unintentional Malum – Act 1	0.81	6.96	8.80	4.02	1,868
25	2018	231991	Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats	0.80	5.90	7.07	2.80	708

Click on the ID or Name for any game to go its profile page on boardgamegeek.

2.2 Most Similar, Highly Rated Games

What games are similar to Solomon Kane while also being highly rated by the boardgamegeek community? In this table I multiply every neighboring game’s similarity score by its GeekRating. The resulting score is an attempt to balance these two quantities.

Rank	Published	ID	Name	Score	Similarity	GeekRating	Average	Weight	UserRatings
--	2021	247417	Solomon Kane	5.96	1.00	5.96	8.15	3.02	571
1	2016	205637	Arkham Horror: The Card Game	6.71	0.85	7.93	8.16	3.49	34,915
2	2016	205059	Mansions of Madness: Second Edition	6.59	0.85	7.77	8.01	2.67	29,837
3	2017	174430	Gloomhaven	6.31	0.74	8.49	8.73	3.87	50,014
4	2015	55690	Kingdom Death: Monster	6.31	0.82	7.72	8.58	4.26	8,359
5	2019	264220	Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon	6.29	0.83	7.59	8.22	3.30	8,851
6	2017	188920	This War of Mine: The Board Game	6.12	0.83	7.36	7.80	3.30	10,397
7	2012	124708	Mice and Mystics	6.08	0.86	7.04	7.27	2.72	17,977
8	2019	269385	The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth	5.86	0.78	7.54	7.99	2.60	12,158
9	2017	232918	Fallout	5.75	0.88	6.50	6.94	2.99	6,374
10	2015	176189	Zombicide: Black Plague	5.75	0.79	7.29	7.66	2.50	14,109
11	2019	169427	Middara: Unintentional Malum – Act 1	5.62	0.81	6.96	8.80	4.02	1,868
12	2019	240271	Core Space	5.54	0.89	6.20	8.78	2.96	820
13	2017	170771	Sword & Sorcery	5.51	0.78	7.07	7.97	4.07	4,242
14	2019	253344	Cthulhu: Death May Die	5.46	0.73	7.48	8.14	2.40	6,585
15	2014	150997	Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death	5.43	0.80	6.83	8.04	3.39	2,302
16	2009	34119	Tales of the Arabian Nights	5.41	0.78	6.92	7.18	2.16	12,120
17	2018	207243	The City of Kings	5.41	0.81	6.64	7.65	3.18	2,295
18	2019	281946	Aftermath	5.38	0.85	6.36	7.77	2.88	1,244
19	2020	280794	Etherfields	5.36	0.81	6.63	8.04	3.45	1,960
20	2014	146791	Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients	5.36	0.77	6.98	7.96	3.35	3,629
21	2011	83330	Mansions of Madness	5.35	0.77	6.98	7.28	3.24	13,161
22	2018	264198	Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress	5.31	0.84	6.34	7.92	2.90	1,187
23	1995	1634	Warhammer Quest	5.26	0.80	6.55	7.49	2.69	2,449
24	2017	98527	Gloom of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game	5.18	0.81	6.42	7.59	3.10	1,698
25	2005	15987	Arkham Horror	5.18	0.73	7.05	7.25	3.58	37,887

2.3 Why Are Games Considered Similar?

I first ran a dimension reduction method (PCA) to identify the main points of variation for games on BGG. The first 25 components explained roughly 50% of the overall variation in the dataset, so I computed the cosine similarity between every game’s score on these 25 components.

2.3.1 Plotting All Games

The following plot shows every game on BGG plotted on the first two principal components of variation. I then highlight where the selected game and its nearest neighbors fall on these first two components.

2.3.2 Game Profiles

Similarity scores are based on 25 principal components - the next table displays the selected game and its neighbors profiles on each of these components.

2.3.3 Examining Components

What are these components? The following plot shows which features contribute the most to each component.

Published	ID	Name	Publisher(s)	Designer(s)	Artist(s)	Categories	Families	Mechanics
2021	247417	Solomon Kane	Mythic Games	Jake Thornton	Thierry Masson	Adventure	Crowdfunding: Kickstarter	Area Movement
					Guillem H. Pongiluppi	Exploration	Players: Games with Solitaire Rules	Cooperative Game
					Edgar Skomorowski	Fantasy		Dice Rolling
						Miniatures		Modular Board
						Novel-based		Storytelling
						Pirates		Variable Player Powers
								Variable Set-up

Individual Game Analysis